


Thanksgiving

by localspacelesbian



Category: Andi Mack (TV), High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Amber is protective, Light Angst, M/M, Seb is TJ and Amber's cousin, T. J. Kippen & Amber Are Siblings, Thanksgiving
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-24 22:34:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22005550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/localspacelesbian/pseuds/localspacelesbian
Relationships: Carlos/Seb Matthew-Smith, T.J. Kippen/Cyrus Goodman (mentioned)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 94





	Thanksgiving

Seb nervously walked into the kitchen where his mom was cooking Thanksgiving Dinner. “Hey, mom?”

She looked up from the stove. “Yeah?” She looked stressed. Maybe Seb should have asked her sooner, but he had been trying to build up to it. Maybe it was too late.

He took a deep breath. “Um, so my friends are having a party tonight…”

“On Thanksgiving?”

He nodded. “Yeah, it’s like a Thanksgiving party I guess. It’s at 8. Can I go?”

She thought for a few seconds, though to Seb it felt like several minutes. She sighed. “Honey, I’m sorry. I don’t know. With everyone here, I just don’t think I’ll have time to give you a ride into town.” Seb nodded, trying not to be too disappointed. It’s not like he was looking forward to hanging out with his friends (ok, mostly Carlos) or anything…

“What does Sebby need a ride for?” Seb turned at the familiar sound of his cousin Amber’s voice and saw her and her brother TJ standing in the doorway. They were each holding a pie.

Seb’s mom looked over at them. “You’re early? And you brought pies?” Seb couldn’t remember a time when the Kippens were ever early to anything. Or when they baked.

Amber nodded. “My mom told us that it started an hour ago to make sure we’d be on time.” She handed Seb’s mom her pie. “And TJ and his boyfriend made the pies,” she added teasingly. TJ rolled his eyes, but smiled softly at the mention of Cyrus, whom Seb had never met but felt like he already knew from how much TJ talked about him. Seb glanced over at his mom to see her reaction to Amber’s comment.

She just set the pies on the counter, not looking at Amber or TJ. “Well, they look delicious. And since you’re here, why don’t you three go set the table.” They all nodded and started to gather plates and utensils before heading into the dining room.

“So, what did you need a ride to?” Amber asked him again, as they all walked around the room, setting the table.

“My friends are having a party tonight.”

“Your friends as in the theatre dorks?” He nodded. “So not like a real party then.” He shoved her playfully. She smiled. “I’m kidding. Is Carlos going to be there?”

Seb felt his face heat up at the mention of Carlos. He looked in the direction of the kitchen to make sure his parents weren’t within earshot before answering. “Yeah.”

TJ and Amber shared a look. “Wait, do your parents not know?” TJ asked. “About you two?”

Seb looked up at him and shook his head. “They have no idea who I went to homecoming with or what part I have in the play. Or even what the play is, probably.” He shook his head again. “I’m pretty sure my parents are under the impression that there can only be one gay cousin.”

Amber snorted. “Can’t wait until they find out there’s three of us.”

Seb looked at her. “Well, they aren’t going to. At least, not anytime soon.”

Amber held up her hands, which were still full of forks, and nodded. “Ok, we won’t say anything.” She put her hands down and continued setting the table. “I can give you a ride to the party though.” Seb stopped and looked at her to make sure she wasn’t joking. She just kept putting forks down on the table until she felt his eyes on her and turned to look at him with her eyebrow raised. “What?”

“You would do that?”

She shrugged. “Of course. On one condition.” Of course there was a catch. There was always catch with her. She looked him right in the eye and smirked. It was slightly unnerving. “You introduce me to Carlos.”

He nodded immediately. “Of course.” She smiled. He was already starting to regret his decision, but he was so happy about getting to go to the party that he didn’t care. The three of them finished setting the table. As Seb set down the last plate, he looked back up at her. “You aren’t going to embarrass me, are you?” The smile she gave him was not at all comforting, but before he could say anything, their parents came into the room, interrupting them.

Carlos heard a knock on the door, and took one last look in the mirror before grabbing _High School Musical: The Choosical_ and heading down the stairs to open the front door. He smiled excited to see Seb, but frowned in confusion when he saw a girl he didn’t know standing in front of him. “You aren’t Seb.”

She smiled and held out her hand. “I’m Amber Kippen. You must be Carlos.” His confusion only increased. She must have realized that his hands were full from the board game because she quickly dropped her hand. “Do you need help with that?” He brought the game closer to himself protectively. He looked over her shoulder and saw Seb running up to them from a car that was parked in the street.

“I’m sorry about her.” Seb said to Carlos before turning to the girl. “Amber. I asked you to wait in the car. Not lock me in it.”

She just shrugged. “You also said you’d introduce me to your boyfriend.” Carlos felt his face heat up, and was mildly relieved to see that Seb was blushing too. They hadn’t actually used the ‘b-word’ yet, but Carlos had to admit that he kind of liked it. “Unless you two both want to walk the rest of the way to the party?” She raised her eyebrow.

Seb sighed. “Fine. Amber, this is Carlos. Carlos, this is Amber, my cousin. And our ride to Ashlyn’s.” He looked back at Amber. “Can we go now?”

Amber rolled her eyes. “Yeah, ok.” She started walking to the car, and the other two followed, walking next to each other.

“What’s that?” Seb pointed at the game.

Carlos smiled at him. “It’s a surprise.” To be honest, he was a bit nervous. He had debated with himself basically all day over whether or not he should bring the game, eventually deciding that it deserved to at least be seen, and if anybody was going to appreciate it, it was the cast of  High School Musical: The Musical .

Seb nodded and smiled. “Well, I’m excited.” Seb opened the door to the backseat for him before getting in the passenger seat. Carlos smiled at him and sat down, buckling his seat-belt and holding onto the board game protectively.

As Amber started to drive away, she looked in the mirror at Carlos and asked, “So Seb said that you’re the choreographer?” Carlos nodded, trying not to seem too excited about the fact that Seb apparently talks about him. Amber nodded. “That’s cool. I love dancing. Sebby and I used to take lessons together as kids.”

“Really?” Carlos leaned forward, not sure if he was more excited about the prospect of talking about dance, or of talking about Seb’s childhood. Amber nodded.

“Amber…” Seb looked a bit embarrassed. It was cute.

“What? It’s my job to embarrass you in front of your first boyfriend. You’re like the little brother I never had,” she said wistfully.

Seb laughed. “You have a little brother. And I know for a fact you’ve embarrassed him in front of  his boyfriend plenty of times.” Carlos was already lost, but he thought it was cute, seeing Seb interact with his cousin, so he didn’t say anything and just watched them.

Amber rolled her eyes. “I said you’re like the brother I don’t have. Just about the only things you and TJ have in common is that you’re both gay and our mom taught you both how to play piano. And we’re gonna keep it that way. If you two,” she pointed at Seb and Carlos, “get as bad as TJ and Cyrus, I am not afraid to disown you.” She sent Seb a quick mock-glare.

Seb laughed. “Oh come on. TJ and Cyrus seem cute together.”

“You haven’t actually  seen them together. They’re insufferable.” But Carlos could see that she was smiling.

“Well, you have to admit, TJ jumping in to talk about Cyrus all night at dinner every time our parents asked you about guys or me about girls  was kind of a relief.”

Amber laughed. “That’s true. He’s really embraced his identity as the ‘gay cousin.’ Who’d have ever thought he’d be the first one of us to come out.” The car slowed to a stop outside of Ashlyn’s house. “Do I need to come inside to make sure that this party isn’t inappropriate?”

Seb rolled his eyes. “Stop being such a mom. You’re only a year older than us. Besides, it’s a theatre party. You said yourself that this hardly qualifies as a real party.”

Amber sighed. “Fine. But call me if you need anything, ok?” Seb nodded and started to get out of the car. “Actually,” Seb and Carlos both froze and looked at her, “can I talk to Carlos alone for a second?”

Seb gave Carlos a questioning look, and Carlos tried to give him a reassuring smile, though he wasn’t quite sure what he was agreeing to. Seb nodded. “Fine. But be nice.” He smiled at Carlos as he got out of the car, before walking up to the house to wait for him. Carlos looked at Amber, who had turned in her seat to face him. He tried to look more confident than he felt.

“Look, I meant what I said earlier. Seb is like a little brother to me. He, TJ, and I have always been close. So, let’s just say, if you  ever hurt him, well, you  really don’t want to see me when he’s sad.”

Carlos nodded. “I don’t want to hurt him. I really like him.”

“Good. Because he adores you.” Carlos smiled. “And you better get me and TJ front row tickets to your show. Because Lord knows his parents aren’t going to go see it.”

Carlos nodded, frowning slightly at that last part. He thought for a second, before asking her a question that had been on his mind for most of the car ride. “Seb’s not out, is he?” He looked up at her, “To his parents?”

She shook her head. “You didn’t know that?”

He shook his head. “I thought maybe… I don’t know.” He shrugged. “He doesn’t really talk about his family much. Unless you count the animals on his farm.” He laughed a bit at the last part.

Amber smiled softly at him. “Oh, he definitely counts the animals as family.” She sighed. “But yeah, his parents can be… difficult. He should probably be the one to tell you about them, but basically,” she shrugged, “they’re farmers. What do you expect? When TJ came out, and when I eventually come out, I’ve always known that our parents would be supportive, but they’re kind of hippies. My mom was always a bit of a black sheep of the family, eager to get away from that farm and more than happy to let her brother take it over. As far as mom’s go, she’s pretty cool. Seb’s parents, though: not so much. They… accepted TJ when he came out, but their own kid? That’s a different story. And even with TJ, well, they didn’t invite us to stay with them this summer.” She looked down, with a sad expression on her face. “And you should have seen their faces every time he talked about Cyrus tonight at dinner. They’re too polite to actually say anything, but they were obviously so uncomfortable.” She scoffed. “It’d almost be funny, if it wasn’t so messed up.” She reached out and squeezed his hand, with a small smiled on her face. “Look, I should probably get going, but take care of him, ok?”

Carlos nodded. “Of course.” He got out of the car, thinking about everything she had said. Sure, his own family was far from perfect, but he had been out to them for basically as long as he could remember, and they were all supportive, even if they didn’t always understand. And he had told them all about Seb, long before he’d asked him to Homecoming. He couldn’t imagine what Seb was going through. He was glad though that at least he had Amber. She seemed nice, if a bit intimidating.

Seb looked at him nervously as he approached the door. “She didn’t scare you away, did she?”

Carlos laughed and shook his head. “Nothing could scare me away from you.”

Seb smiled and nodded toward the door. Carlos nodded in return, and Seb held the door open for him. “Just be glad I convinced TJ not to come too. He might’ve gone all ‘scary basketball guy’ on you,” he added with a small laugh.

Carlos couldn’t tell if that was a joke or not. He decided he’d ask about that later. He threw on his ‘party face.’ and walked into the living room. “The party may begin!”


End file.
